Readers Say Rich Rodriguez Must Win in 2010 to Stay in Ann Arbor
In my debut Michigan Wolverines football article, "Maize and Blue Since 1969: HäMMëR’s Take on Michigan Wolverines Football," I included a reader poll that posed the following question:
If the decision was yours to make, how many wins would coach Rodriguez need to achieve in 2010 to return to lead the team in 2011?
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
I found the results of the 225 votes that had been cast as of the publish of this article to be definitive: Win in 2010 or step aside.
Here is how readers responded to the poll choices:
A. 5-6 wins - A Wolverine football team that can play close to .500 ball under Rich Rod is enough for me in his third year in Ann Arbor. 4.9 percent
B. 7 wins - Coach Rodriguez must win at least seven games to return in 2011. 30.2 percent
C. 8 wins - There was a time when Michigan fans screamed for public execution of a coach who couldn't win but eight games in a season—if Rich Rod doesn't win eight, it'll be too late! 39.1 percent
D. 9 wins - A 9-3 regular season campaign would signal the return of "Michigan" football, along with the return of Rich Rodriguez to the sidelines in 2011. 15.6 percent
E. 10 wins or more - Double-digit wins are a must for Rich Rodriguez to be retained for the 2011 season. 10.2 percent
Total votes: 225
What we see is that less than five percent of respondents would tolerate a losing season. Quite frankly that’s five percent too many, and just unacceptable.
The “Wolverines’ share” of votes, nearly 70 percent, would take solace in a seven or eight-win season. That would be winning, just not by much. To that extent, a seven or eight-win goal doesn’t seem to be a very lofty expectation for the greatest football program in the history of college football.
Would that have been the expectation for coach Lloyd Carr?
There would be pitchforks, hoe handles and torches for all when Coach Carr only won eight games, and God forbid the 2005 season when Lloyd delivered only seven.
After all, it was in Coach Carr’s third season as Wolverines head coach when the team finished the season 12-0. I’m sure Coach Rodriguez is ready to equal the achievement of Coach Carr, since it was Carr he had to replace.
How can there exist a duplicitous standard that sets low the bar of achievement, mired in the muck of mediocrity?
Coach Carr led the Michigan Wolverines to 29 victories in his first three seasons as head football coach. That’s the standard.
Another look at respondents’ results shows that about 65 percent of readers suggest it will take eight wins or more during the 2010 campaign for head coach Rich Rodriguez to maintain his position at the helm of Michigan football.
Personally, I find the paradigm of an eight-plus win season the basis for expectation of every season. Really, I think it is reasonable to suggest that winning eight football games in a season at the University of Michigan is the minimum acceptable standard of performance, and those eight-win seasons better be few and far between, like maybe once every five or six years, if at all.
As we continue to examine the high side of expectations from respondents, only about 25 percent of readers felt that Rich Rodriguez needed to win nine games or more in order to keep his job in Ann Arbor.
I don’t know what to think about that finding.
Does it mean that Michigan football fans have allowed themselves to lower their expectations for the program? Does it suggest that only about one in four Wolverines football fans hold the expectation of nine wins or more in a season?
Does it say that Wolverines football fans are cutting Rich Rodriguez slack that they would never give to any of the former University of Michigan football head coaches since 1969?
Do the poll results suggest that after two dismal years in Ann Arbor the Wolverines faithful have had their senses dulled and no longer demand excellence?
Change is a painful thing at times, Wolverines fans. During my lifetime I’ve never seen this kind of losing, nor have I seen the way in which this team has gotten flat-out drubbed in and out of conference play like they have the past two seasons.
This will not do.
It was Sir Winston Churchill who offered this astute assessment:
“It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”
The time is upon us in just a few short days when the Michigan football program will have to succeed in doing what is necessary: winning football games in 2010.
Should Coach Rodriguez fail to lead this team to the requisite number of wins, Michigan athletic director David Brandon will also have to “succeed in doing what is necessary.”
HäMMëR
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
